


Rumor Has It

by chaoticlogic



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Love Triangles, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13648671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticlogic/pseuds/chaoticlogic
Summary: When Lottie becomes friends with the infamous Marauders the school is confused. When rumors of her and James being together surface... it's chaos. When she is caught in the broom closet with Sirius... it's just plain madness! Is everything really what it seems though? Slight James/OC, Sirius/OC





	1. Chapter 1

I roll my eyes as I see my books levitate out of the corner of my eye. Without looking up from my parchment I pluck the books out of thin air and set them back down on my desk. It’s only a moment later when a slam resonates throughout the classroom and I look up to see Lily Evans glaring at a laughing James Potter. 

“That will be quite enough from you Mr Potter,” says McGonagall as she glares at the back of the class where the group of boys known collectively as the ‘Marauders’ sit.

“But Professor! There's never enough of me!"

The boys break out into simultaneous laughter and the rest of the class can hardly keep the smiles off their faces. He is James Potter, and despite his big head he is charming and handsome and intelligent and handsome and mischievous and handsome and funny and handsome and talented and did I mention handsome? I know what you’re thinking… but no I don’t have a crush on him… ok maybe a little bit of one; but what girl besides well… Lily Evans… doesn’t?

“Here, Potter,” she snaps indicating the seat next to me. 

I scowl as I think of my best friends, Pepper and Sam, who are playing sick at the moment to do who knows what in the broom cupboard. James walks up struts up to the seat next to me. He sits down and sends me a suave look. 

‘Seriously?’ I think as I raise my brow at him, before I turn to the front of the class again.

Lily turns in her seat and gives me a sympathetic look before glaring at James. James sees the exchange and looks pensively between Lily and me. 

“So…. You’re friends with Lily?”

“Don’t even think about it.” I snap.

“Right…”

I spend the rest of class ignoring James and attempting to concentrate on my notes. 

…  
…  
…

Okay so I attempt to spend the rest of class ignoring James, but honestly the boy is just too funny for his own good.

“Watch this,” he says as he indicates the line of hexed spit balls lined up on his desk.

I watch in fascination as the sends them in the direction of several Slytherins on the other side of the classroom. I have to stifle a giggle as the spitballs behave more like bees and buzz about their heads randomly landing and causing squeals of disgust from their victims. By the time that McGonagall turns around to see what all of the commotion is about the spit balls fly up and stick themselves discreetly to the ceiling. James sends me a dazzling smile as he discreetly begins another batch for deployment. I hold out my hand to stop him and wave my wand over the ammunition before I give him the nod of approval. He is looking at me curiously as he sends the spitballs toward their respective targets. He has to slap his hand over this mouth to stop from laughing out loud and giving us away. James sends me an impressed look as he watches the Slytherin Quidditch team being assaulted by the spitballs turn a rainbow of colors each time they are pelted by a spitball. 

“Enough!” exclaims McGonagall as she turns around, however the spitballs hover over the heads of the Slytherin before they disintegrate into a shower of red and gold glitter above their heads. At this point the rest of the class is doubled over in laughter and the disgruntled Slytherins are scowling at us. No one is laughing harder than the Marauders situated in the back of the classroom though. It’s at this point that the bell sounds and before the Professor has time to deal out punishment, James and I have gathered our books and rush from the classroom. 

“Nice going with that last one Prongs!” I hear Sirius Black yell as he catches up to James, who is walking beside of me for some odd reason. 

“Wasn’t me Padfoot, although I can’t say I wish it wasn’t, it was brilliant!” says James with a smirk. 

“Then who was it then?” questions Remus as he catches up with the rest of us as Peter pokes along behind. 

“Why it was Miss Lottie here!” James says as he throws his arm around my shoulders casually. 

I roll my eyes and murmur, “It wasn’t that great…” 

“Are you kidding!? You hexed half the Slytherin Quidditch team to change colors and then covered them in red and gold glitter!”

I send them a mischievous grin and shrug, “It’s what they get for playing dirty in last Saturday’s match.”

“Mate she’s perfect! Where have you been hiding all my life love?” asks Sirius as he throws his arm around me from the other side. I am now in a James and Sirius sandwich and the envy of the James and Sirius fangirls.

I throw both of their arms off as I enter the Great Hall before I turn and wink at both boys before I make my way over to where my friends are snogging each others faces off. 

“Seriously guys? Go back to the broom closet that you stumbled out of.”

“You’re just jealous you didn’t get this,” says Sam as he indicates his body. 

“Yep.” I say in a flat voice, “I just can’t take it anymore… How will I ever survive? Oh woe is me…”

Pepper throws her head back and laughs openly as I take a seat across from them. 

“You should be the lead in the play coming up Lottie! That was too perfect!”

Sam and I join in laughing with her. I’m glad that we can still joke like we always have even with their new relationship. 

I look at my laughing friends across the table and vaguely wonder what I would do without them. Pepper has straight caramel brown hair and hazel eyes that crinkle at the corner when she laughs. Sam has curly black hair, that is mostly left unkept and blue eyes. The two of them make quite the pair especially since the sexual tension that has been building between the two of them for years finally forced them to confess their feelings for one another last month. Transitioning from best friend to third wheel has been interesting for me to say the least. 

“So you going to explain how you became the filling of a James and Sirius sandwich?” asks the forever blunt Sam. 

“Spill,” demands Pepper as she glances down the table where the boys are sitting. 

“Well… Since someone decided to skip class,” I say giving them a meaningful glare, “James got in trouble and moved to the seat next to mine.” I explain with a shrug. 

“Don’t hold back on my account,” smirks Sam, “I want the juicy details of your passionate meeting. Did you show them the goods?” he asks wiggling his eyebrows. 

I roll my eyes at him, “I’m not holding back! I just… maybe…. contributed to a prank… that’s all…”

“No!” Gasps Pepper with wide eyes, “You helped James with a prank!? That’s never been done!”

I roll my eyes at them, I just realized that I do that a lot, “It wasn’t that big of a deal…”

“That’s where you’re wrong…” interjects Sam, “they are seriously private about their pranks. They don’t tell the other guys anything or let us help in any way. You’re officially Hogwarts Elite.”

I just stare blankly at them, “You know that kind of talk is the reason they are so full of themselves, right?”

“How can you be so flippant about this?! James hasn’t given any girl the time of day since third year when he developed his crush on Lily Evans! You could be the next Lily Evans!”

“That’s it… I’m going to class… You two are crazy…” I say as I stuff the last bite of my sandwich into my mouth and get up. 

I draw my robe closer around me as I head out to the greenhouse where Herbology class is. I’m not surprised to find that I’m the first person here, so I pull out the book I’m reading and pick up where I left off. 

It’s when a bag gets thrown onto the table in front of me that startles me out of the world of the book I’m reading. I look up to see James Potter on one side of me and turn my head as another bag is thrown onto my otherside where Sirius Black is. I look on either side of me and in confusion as Remus sits down in front of me. 

“How’s it going Lottie? I can call you Lottie right?” questions James with a dazzling smile. 

“Sure…” mutter in confusion. 

I notice the odd looks that I’m getting from the other Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws that we have class with. I’m especially surprised when Lily Evans sits down beside Remus and in front of Sirius. I notice the looks of surprise that the three boys exchange, before a cocky smirk slides onto the face of James. 

“What do we owe the pleasure Lily, my love?”

“Don’t get your hopes up Potter, I’m just here to make sure you aren’t messing with Lottie.”

“Come now Evans,” says Sirius as he throws his arm around my shoulder, “We wouldn’t do anything to Lottie here! She has the potential to the first honorary Marauder.” 

“Huh?” I say in confusion.

Lily, of course, looks appalled at the very thought. 

“You will not corrupt her! I won’t allow it.” she says pointing an accusing finger at the boys. 

I roll my eyes at the nonsense happening before me, as Lily begins to argue with the boys on either side of me. I send Remus a look and he just shrugs looking amused at his friends. 

Professor Sprout, the new Herbology professor, walks in and claps her hand to get the attention of the class. James and Sirius send each other smug looks as they turn to the front of the class. 

“Alright class it’s time to pick partners for your group project. Remember to choose well, this is worth half of your grade! And Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, you two will not be partnered together.”

The two boys just grin obviously remembering what happened last time. They raised a man eating lily, and the double meaning did not go over well with well… I’ll let you figure it out...

James and Sirius sent one another looks over my head, “No problem Professor! Lottie here is going to my partner!” 

I look over at James in surprise and slight disbelief. 

“Very good, Miss White is an excellent student.”

‘What have I gotten myself into?’ I wonder as I lean my head down onto the desk.


	2. No Joke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which James has a revelation and Lottie isn't sure how to feel about it.

I’m sitting in the Gryffindor common room, alone, trying to work on my homework, alone, while contemplating life’s mysteries, alone. Did I mention I was alone?

...fine! I am not really contemplating life’s mysteries… it just makes it sound more dramatic and less…

“Lottie! Love! There you are!” exclaims a voice behind me. 

“Yep… Here I am… Surprise?” I question as I glance back at James as he makes his way toward me from the portrait hole. 

He laughs, “You’re pretty funny… well you are pretty anyway, but I love a girl with a sense of humor,” he murmur giving me a suave smile. 

I feel a blush form on my face at the flattery, after all my crush just called me pretty! I felt like a giddy school girl a gave a soft giggle. It only took a moment of cold reality for me to realize why I’m so interesting to James all of a sudden. 

“I’m not helping you win Lily over.” I say with finality as I get up to leave. 

“Wait a second! How do you know that’s what I want?” questions James. 

“Well what else would you want?”

“To work on our project.”

I raise an eyebrow in disbelief, “For some reason I don’t believe you…”

“Well I really do want to work on the project with you,” a note of finality in his voice. 

I blink up at him a few times, considering whether or not he is telling me the truth before I nod. “Okay…” 

He nods before he sits down beside of me and pulls out his Herbology book. He turns to a page in the book that has the plant that we will be growing, the Shrivelfig. 

“We will need to build a terrarium to grow the plant in so that it can be grown in the proper conditions.”

“Can I ask you a question?” interrupts James as he leans his head into his hand.

“You just did.” I say as I glance up at him from the book.

“How did you come up with the rainbow and the glitter today?”

I laugh quietly, “You Marauders aren’t the only ones who can pull pranks you know…”

He smiles slightly, “But you’re so quiet.”

“Since when does volume have anything to do with pranking people? Besides I would think that would be a good thing… After all people wouldn’t really suspect someone who is quiet right?” 

“Hmm… I suppose not…” he muses as he pokes at the inkwell in front of him. 

“You alright Potter?” I ask softly.

He perks up at that as if he didn’t realize what he had been doing. 

“Just fine Love! Let’s get to work on this terrarium thing shall we?”

I just nod while giving him a look and turning back to the parchment in front of me. I begin to draw out the plans, labeling the dimensions as I go and notice that James is still staring off into space as if he’s thinking very hard about something. This time I choose to not intrude on his comments and we sit in silence for several minutes. 

“Do you think that you would want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?”

I look up startled and gaze wide eyed at the prankster in front of me. Honestly, I’m not sure what has surprised me more the fact that he spoke or what he actually said. Don’t get me wrong… James Potter is handsome and funny and charismatic, but James Potter hasn’t asked a girl out, to my knowledge anyway, except Lily Evans in years. Why start now?

“James...I...Umm… What?” I blabber back unintelligently. 

James looks down with an almost forlorn smile. 

“You’re right… Sorry… forget I asked…” He makes to grab his bag and leave before I reach out and stop him. He turns back to face me with a torn look on his face. 

“How about some tea?” I ask calmly giving him an encouraging smile. I vaguely wonder when I became actual friends with James Potter. 

He chuckles softly before he nods and we both stand up and head out to the corridor. We walk in silence towards the kitchens, I could feel his nervous energy as I kept pace with him. When we finally reached the kitchens the house elves began to scramble about giving us tea and multiple little cakes to eat. When we were settled with tea and our treat of choice I turned to James expectantly. 

“I need to get over Lily…” he sighed out, “She has never taken me seriously and I’m beginning to think I should just give up and move on.”

“Have you told your friends about this?” Surprised he was talking to me about this. 

He shook his head as he looked down into his tea as if it held all the answers he was looking for. 

“Is that why you asked me to Hogsmeade then? As a distraction?”

“Honestly… when you helped pull that prank I realized I’ve never even looked twice at you.” 

I winced, “Gee… Thanks…”

“No! That’s not what I meant! What I mean is that you’re this really cool girl that has literally been right in front of me for years and I never even noticed. I’ve been so strung up on Lily and at this point I’m not even sure if I really like her or if it’s just because she’s continued to be the only one to say no. It hit me earlier that I could have missed out on how funny and interesting you are because I’ve been pining after someone who won’t give me the time of day.”

For the first time ever, I think I saw James Potter for who he actually is and not the painted outward image that he shows everybody else. 

“It’s been awhile since I’ve had fun with anyone other than the guys, so I want to take you to Hogsmeade and maybe see what happens?” he asked hopefully.

He looked up at me with a small smile, not a smirk or a smoulder, a genuine smile. 

James Potter is not some unattainable golden boy, he’s just like everyone else. And just like everyone else he’s been defeated by unrequited love. 

“Sounds like fun James, I’d be happy to go to Hogsmeade with you.” 

He looked up with a smile before he took some of the icing from his cake and dabbed it on my nose before I could stop him.

I squealed “What the hell Potter?!” before I laughed and smeared chocolate filling onto his cheek. 

He looked almost shocked before he grabbed grabbed his cake and attempted to rub it into my face but I grabbed his wrist to keep his hand at bay. 

“NO!” I screamed as I attempted to keep him at bay, but he’s much stronger than me and I ended up with cake a frosting covering my face.

The two of us sat in the kitchens laughing until our sides hurt and tears were pouring down our faces. It is in this moment that I realized that I’ve finally seen the real James Potter.

.

.

.

After my heart to heart and mini food fight with James we made our way giggling back up to the common room still covered in frosting. When we walked through the portrait hole entrance and captured the attention of several of our peers in the room, most notable the Marauders themselves. 

“You do realize you’re supposed to eat the food not wear it right?” asked Remus with a lopsided smile as James dragged me over to the guys. 

“Come now Mooney! Let the man have his fun! Besides frosting looks lovely on Miss Lottie here!”

I rolled my eyes at Sirius before I grabbed a dollop of icing that had taken up residence on my shoulder and smeared it down his cheek. There was a breath of silence before Sirius burst out laughing and wiped the icing from his cheek before he brought it dramatically to his mouth. 

“I keep wondering Love… where have you been all my life?”

I just laughed and blew him a kiss before I waved bye at the guys, “I’m going to grab a shower, I’ll talk to you guys later.”

The guys all told me bye in their own way before they huddled together to start whispering about something. I’m sure there will be a prank on someone in the near future. 

When I made it upstairs I made a beeline for the shower and began to contemplate just exactly what had happened earlier. James was not one to hold back his feelings about things. He had always been very upfront with Lily about how he felt about her. She had just always rejected him. Now he wants to give things a shot with me? Should I perhaps talk to Lily about this? We haven’t been very close, we shared a house and therefore a room and multiple classes. I’ve always considered Lily my friend, but she has made her feelings about James very clear. She wants nothing to do with him. Furthermore…. Is James actually over her? 

I heave a sigh not sure what to think about the situation. I like James, I’ve had a crush on him for ages, but I didn’t ever actually think anything would come from it. Why would I? He’s always been very vocal about his feelings for Lily. And it’s not that I don’t want to give him a chance it’s just that…

Do I actually believe he can let Lily go?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to tell me what you think!


End file.
